Socio-demographic and clinical profile of pediatric patients with cerebral palsy in Gujarat, India

Abstract

Cerebral palsy is a common childhood neurodevelopmental disorder. The estimated prevalence of cerebral palsy in India ranges from 2.1 to 3 per 1000 live births as per published literature. The present study was aimed to study socio-demographic and clinical profiles of cerebral palsy children in the Gujarat state of India. A total of 481 cerebral palsy children were included from various physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and neurological setups across Gujarat between May 2018 and April 2019. Information regarding gender, age, city of residence, family details, types of cerebral palsy, and gross motor function classification system was collected using a simple survey form designed for the study. The study showed that 67.57% of children were male and 32.22% were in the age group of 48–96 months. When classified 77.34% had a spastic type of cerebral palsy, out of which diplegic cerebral palsy was reported to be the most common (42.83%). When assessed for functional levels, most of the children were classified in gross motor function classification system levels 3 and 4 (76.30%). The findings of this study support the published data and emphasize the need for a robust and authentic official database of cerebral palsy in Gujarat and India to help in the estimation of the current disease burden and implementation policies for the prevention and management of cerebral palsy.